Friends of the Orphan Signs makes use of abandoned road signs and creates collaborative, community-oriented public art projects in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

In March of 2011, one side of our sign was blown off during a night of fierce desert spring winds. There must have been a swirling explosion of letters, I found an H a block away.

Larry and Johnnie Plath, the mostly affable but sometimes gruff brothers who own Southwest Outdoor Electric sign company, had large pieces of used sign facing plastic lying around their shop- they cut it to size- approximately 15' x 5'. After I riveted new lettering tracks to the plastic, they used their lift to bolt it to the frame-we were back in business.

The new sign face doesn't fit exactly, and is somewhat bowed out, I got a submission not long after--- "he's fat, he's poofy, he's choska"--maybe this person was referring to the sign.

They could have been referring to their cat- this is Larry and Johnnie and their mouser, Princess.